


Homophobia

by AlexNoelFieldingFan



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Harry Potter, Bullying, But mainly the Dursleys, Child Abuse, Coming Out, F/M, First Kiss, Gay Draco Malfoy, Gays can have kids here, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Luna Lovegood knows what's going on, M/M, Muggles are bastards, One Shot, Wizards accept the gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24195493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexNoelFieldingFan/pseuds/AlexNoelFieldingFan
Summary: Harry has decided he's going to come out to his friends as bisexual, but he's not sure how they'll react. And he's not sure how one person in particular will react...One shot, written as a request from @wisteria-lodge on Tumblr.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hannah Abbott/Neville Longbottom
Comments: 6
Kudos: 282





	Homophobia

Harry’s throat tightened as he looked over his friends, all chatting like they didn’t have a care in the world. Like they didn’t know about the beads of sweat building up on his palms and the butterflies in his stomach, because, of course, they didn’t. Unless Hermione had secretly mastered legilimency, which he wouldn’t put past her.

His friends who he knew would be so accepting, yet somehow that didn’t make it any easier. Well - no, he was sure they’d be accepting, they’re his friends. Ron and Hermione would never forsake him for anything. And Ginny had always been so understanding. And Neville was always so nice. And of course Luna would accept anything. And Draco…

And he’d only been hanging out with Draco for a few months. With Draco, from his pureblood family, who persecuted muggle-borns his entire childhood. His privileged upbringing and a history of prejudice. And of course it had to be Draco, the one whose opinion mattered most to him in all the world.

Harry cleared his throat.

“Erm, guys?”

“What is it, mate?” Ron asked, not looking up from the Potions essay he was puzzling over. Hermione, however, looked concerned.

“Are you OK, Harry?”

“Yeah, you look sort of ill,” Ginny chimed in. Harry supposed he was probably pale, and definitely sweaty, and actually felt closer to passing out than he’d’ve liked.

“Well go on then, Potter, what is it?”

He and Draco still called each other by their surnames, to their faces anyway. Not to break an old habit.

Harry cleared his throat. Again.

“Well I’ve been doing some thinking and, erm, I think I might, well…” his mouth was so dry. He didn’t know mouths could get this dry. He was desperately trying to avoid Draco’s eyes. “I might be bi. Sexual,” he felt the need to clarify.

The first thing he noticed was Luna more or less ignoring him and going back to her magazine, which seemed to release some built-up pressure inside him. She already knew, of course she already knew. She probably knew about him and Draco and everything.

His eyes then fixed on Hermione. She was beaming like a proud parent, and reached over to pat his hand in what she obviously thought was a supportive gesture. Harry grinned back awkwardly.

It wasn’t till then that he noticed the confusion on everyone else’s faces.

“What?” was all he could say. He decided to focus it on Ron, who looked particularly baffled. “What?”

“Sorry, mate, it’s just… why were you so nervous?”

This wasn’t what he had expected. For one horrible minute it occurred to him that wizards didn’t even have a concept of homosexuality, or that it was punishable by death or something. They didn’t have TV after all, what if it was more Victorian than he’d thought?

“Oh, well, I guess I didn’t know how you’d react.”

Ron nodded, slowly, still frowning. Eventually he shrugged. “OK, cool. I don’t really care.”

“Oh, right, great.” A weight slowly started to lift off Harry’s chest.

“Why would he care?” Neville still seemed genuinely baffled.

“Well, I didn’t know how he felt about - you know - gay people.”

“You mean, if he was gay?” Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise. Harry could see what she was suggesting.

“No, just - well, to be honest, I didn’t know if wizards accepted gay people.”

“What do you mean?” Draco leaned forwards and fixed his gaze on Harry intently. Harry tried to look away. “Who wouldn’t accept gay people?”

Harry tried to stammer out an answer, when Hermione tapped him on the arm. “Harry, wizards don’t have the history of homophobia Muggles do.”

Harry saw Draco mouth ‘homophobia’ questioningly to Ginny, who shrugged. He ignored them.

“Really?”

“Yes. The first gay Minister for Magic was appointed in 1733, and there’s evidence of open homosexual relationships in wizarding society for centuries before that.”

Despite himself, Harry had a niggling feeling that exact sentence could be found in a book entitled ‘a history of gay wizards’ (he was, of course, completely correct).

He found himself looking over to Draco. “Even in pureblood families?”

“Of course. Usually, as long as they have a son.”

Harry frowned, his mind going at a hundred miles a minute. Which it was not used to doing, as Professor McGonagall would tell you. “But how - how could they have kids?”

As he so often found himself doing, he looked over to Hermione, who sighed impatiently (as she often found herself doing). “Harry, there’s a spell for that. Has been since the 1600s, it’s surprisingly simple.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Neville chimed in. “Hannah’s got two mums.”

“Oh, has she?” Ginny did the eyebrow thing again, and Neville blushed.

Eventually, the topic turned onto other topics, and Harry grinned with relief. Although he made a mental note to ask Hermione to borrow that book she must so surely own.

He barely even noticed when Draco sat down next to him, at least until he whispered “Potter” into his ear. He grinned when Harry jumped, and turned away from the rest of the group to talk to the boy.

“What is homophobia?”

Harry laughed. Since becoming friends, it became painfully obvious that Draco was actually just an insufferable know-it-all, almost as much as Hermione. He delighted in knowing something the top charms student in the year didn’t.

“Well Muggles thought that gay people shouldn’t exist? I think it was mostly to do with religion, you know, being gay is a sin and all that. You know?”

Draco, clearly, did not know.

“So you thought we would think that?”

“I guess so. Not really but you might have.”

Draco frowned, like he was thinking. “Has anyone, erm, done homophobia to you?”

He gulped. Was he really going to say this?

“Not really. I mean I would never tell them, but… my aunt and uncle never liked gay people. I remember the next door neighbour’s daughter was gay, she got thrown out of the house. My aunt was glad, she supported it. I was only eleven. And Dudley always called me a poofter, even before I knew what it meant. I think before he knew what it meant. I guess Uncle Vernon used to call me one too.”

“And what is a…?”

“A gay person. It’s derogatory, slang, you know?”

He noticed some colour flood Draco’s pale cheeks. “Like mudblood.”

He nodded. “Exactly.”

They sat in silence for a moment before Draco spoke. “You thought I was going to. You know, homophobia.”

“I thought you might. You’re from an old, rich family too. In the Muggle world they’re more likely to.”

A moment more of silence. “Why did you tell me?”

“What?”

“If you thought I’d react badly. Why tell me? You could have just told Ron and Hermione or something.”

“I wanted to know what you thought. And, I suppose…”

Harry’s brain was in a whirr, so much had happened today he wasn’t really thinking anymore. He vaguely wondered who was doing the thinking for him, especially as one of his hands came to rest on Draco’s. He felt strangely calm as he watched Draco’s face contort into an expression of surprise, although his heart was hammering like crazy. He noticed the corners of Draco’s mouth begin to curl upwards, and his eyebrows raised in a questioning look.

As if on automatic, Harry reached his face towards Draco’s. It seemed so far away, but it’s not like Harry could stop the action, any more than he could stop his heart pounding away in his chest (actually, he’d quite like to stop it, what if Draco heard?)

His mouth touched Draco’s, and the talking of their friends stopped, although Harry hardly noticed that. All he noticed was Draco’s mouth kissing back at his, and his hands weaving their way into Harry’s long, curly hair. And he noticed one more thing.

One singular voice, light and airy, like it was on another planet.

“I was wondering when that would happen.”


End file.
